Webmaster,
What have I said to make you think I no longer care about people's right to choose their own path? If I think a path is wrong, I'm willing to say so. That doesn't mean I'll try to hold anyone back from it with anything stronger than words.
Why should you believe anything I say? Well, because I am gay, and I'll attest that my "lifestyle" is not promiscuous, not otherwise self-destructive, not, in fact, any different from that of my straight friends. And I have no reason to lie. If I <I>were</I> living the stereotypical "gay lifestyle," it would be because my values supported it, and I'd have no reason to lie about that, either.
Aineo,
What library? Which search terms?
And, <I>what</I> book? Bieber? I'm bad with names... but I don't recall "rejecting" a book at all. When was this?
I <I>am</I> handling my peace of mind. But since you recommended I look at the site, I felt I should explain why I didn't intend to.
You obviously don't appreciate it when people call you a self-deluding liar, and yet you turn around and imply the same for me. Perhaps I shouldn't even dignify this with a response... but I've never been good at letting other people tell me what's going on in my own head. So: I find the testimonies uncomfortable because I think many of the people testifying may be more unhappy than they can admit. I've said, already, that this may be projection -- I was Christian once, and if I had been still, at the point when I realized I was gay, I probably would have sought some form of reparative therapy. And if I <I>had,</I> I doubt I'd have ended up with the self-acceptance -- and subsequent happiness -- that I've gained in the past few years.
There was a time when I felt like I would give anything to be straight, if only it was possible... and when I read those testimonials <I>then,</I> they gave me no hope. I assure you, I don't feel threatened by them now. If I thought there was an infallible 100% "cure," I'd be happy -- for the sake of the people who are desperate for one. For myself, I'd see no reason to take it. Not any more.
I don't think it's fair to assume that gay activists who oppose reparative therapy are afraid of the truth. Personally, I am afraid of people harming themselves needlessly.
Do more people kill themselves because the pro-gay side convinces them that change is impossible, <I>without</I> convincing them that it's unnecessary, or because the anti-gay side convinces them that change <I>is</I> possible <I>and</I> necessary, but they find they <I>cannot</I> change? I don't know. Either way, it adds up to many individual tragedies. But without an internalized bias against homosexuality, I don't think anyone would kill themselves over it, at all.
Needless to say, I regard gay marriage as <I>equal</I> treatment under the law, not a "redefinition" of society. I do want, and <I>expect</I>, for society to accept homosexuals as equal -- not through enforcement of law, but through natural cultural evolution. We're already well along that road, as you point out. But we're not at the end, and even if we were, it would be too soon to see the final result. Give it another few decades for full equality, and then a few more, for a new generation to grow up in it. Then we -- or rather, they -- will know.
I'd love to see the APA do a study on reparative therapy. I still think that if Exodus is making claims regarding its ability to help people with their sexuality, it should be able to back them up. And I believe that there's a moral responsibility, if not a legal one, to ensure that they aren't doing more harm than good. They are presumably aware that people in their ministry sometimes kill themselves.